Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Fenway Institute wins NIH grant to study LGBT health

The Fenway Institute at Fenway Community Health has won a five-year, $1 million government grant to study the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered population.

Researchers will look at the transmission of HIV, characteristics of families and households, and the demographics of health, illness, disability and death among LGBT people. The funding comes from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

In addition, graduate students will be trained to study LGBT issues at the Boston University School of Public Health. Researchers will also work with the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan to create an Internet-based library of LGBT health studies that will be accessible to the public.

Co-principal investigators of the grant are Judith Bradford, co-chair of the Fenway Institute, and Ulrike Boehmer, assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at the BU School of Public Health.

"We know that health disparites due to sexual orientation exist, but few population-based studies on LGBT health have been conducted and the data are not readily accessible," Boehmer said in a statement announcing the grant.